


A Chime of Bells

by MadQueenJay



Category: Corpse Party (Video Game), No Fandom
Genre: F/M, Multi, Original Character Death(s), Original Character(s), Religious Imagery & Symbolism, Symbolism, inspired by corpse party, lots of death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-15
Updated: 2015-06-14
Packaged: 2018-04-04 11:33:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 9,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4135887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadQueenJay/pseuds/MadQueenJay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There were no lights inside the warehouse and each victim proceeded to split up and travel to different sectors of the building. To make matters worse, the rooms began trembling. Lamps rocking to and fro, and boxes shifting side to side. The classmates, now divided, began to tumble. Their screams being drowned by the clatter of tiles forcing themselves together. All at once, everything went into shadows.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Wrong Place, Wrong Time

**Author's Note:**

> Hi.... So my friend wrote this and wanted me to post it online.... So here it is. He has his own schedule while writing, and he is appreciative of criticism and feedback. Thank you my lovelies!

Chapter 1: Wrong Place, Wrong Time  
By: Narrator

One fine morning, five friends were walking to school. Donald and Pascal, the two laziest members of the group, struggled to keep up with the others. Don stood firm and demanded that everyone pause to allow him and Pascal to catch up. To nobody's surprise nobody dignified this request with the slightest response. Pascal scoffed while saying, with and obvious sarcastic tone, “As if that would’ve worked.” Donald leers back at Pascal with slight anger then continued to follow the others. 

Near the front, Andy rushed to class, just to peeve both Pascal and Donald, in complete disregard of what they had said. He continued to speed up the empty sidewalk unknowing that behind him, Nina, the more dramatic of the group, was gazing upon him, dreaming of what their children would look like. Anne who followed shortly after Nina noticed this and rolled her eyes. She had seen Nina perform this charade for far too long and had begun to find it more creepy than cute.

As they all walked along with an unusual bounce in their step, unusual: considering none of them actually wanted to go to class, they looked upwards.

‘Street closed due to construction’

They all sighed in relief believing that this meant that they could reunite with the comfort of their own homes for the rest of the day. Just as the five friends turned to return to their houses, two friends of Donald’s arrived. Graham, the shorter of the two, had the same reaction as the rest when reading the sign; while as, Liane, on the other hand, gladly announced that school was not closed and that we just had to take a different route. Everyone, besides Liane, let out a moan after hearing such unfortunate news. But without further ado, they all trotted onwards.

Nina and Graham exchanged foul looks, because of their deep hatred of each other, while Liane lead the group marching along with a look of pride on her face. The reroute was much dark and sketchier than the path they usually took. But they all chose to ignore this fact. As they passed by one particular alley, most members of this group noticed a horrifying event passing within. 

As they all eventually turned to look at whatever this thing was that caused them to freeze in their tracks, it quickly became clear to everyone what was happening. Deep in the gloomy alleyway, two shadowy figures were fiercely attacking each other, with what looked to be no intent of mercy. Surprisingly, the slightly smaller two managed to bring out a mysteriously shaped object and began to beat the other shadowy figure with it. The second silhouette fell to the ground, after being profusely beaten to death with said mysterious object. 

The murderer rapidly, changed his glance towards the group of teenagers that had viewed the entire, gruesome act. The seven friends, who had briefly forgotten that they were actually there, began to sprint.

Andy, being the fastest of the group easily outran the rest. Unfortunately for him, everyone else decided to follow and he had no clue where he was headed. His mind swam, as he dashed forwards not knowing where he might end up. Andy came to a halt as Liane whispered, “I think we lost him.” The entire group took several deep breaths before Nina carelessly let out a scream. She said that she had tried to scream during the chase but she was too overcome with nervousness. 

To nobody’s surprise, Nina’s idiotic shouts led the killer to us which initiated the pursuit once more. Despite the fact that noise attracts the killer, the other five members began to excessively rant at Nina.

The friends soon arrived at the door of an old, abandoned warehouse where they didn’t waver whether or not to enter, due to the maniac pursuing them. 

There were no lights inside the warehouse and each victim proceeded to split up and travel to different sectors of the building. To make matters worse, the rooms began trembling. Lamps rocking to and fro, and boxes shifting side to side. The classmates, now divided, began to tumble. Their screams being drowned by the clatter of tiles forcing themselves together. All at once, everything went into shadows.


	2. A Rough Start

Chapter 2: A Rough Start  
By: Anne Corinthia

“Where am I”, I think to myself as I begin to get a grip on reality once more.

“What just happened?” I struggle to stand and let out a scream.

My leg is in the worst condition I have ever witnessed. Every attempt of movement feels more and more as if my limb were to melt right off. I try to relax by returning once more to the warm embrace of the floor. I begin to shout out wildly; an echo is the only noise to respond to my cry. Suddenly, I began to nod off once more, perhaps just to pass time until someone finds me. I enter a slumber so deep I may as well be dead. Silence wraps around me as if wanting me to rest. 

I awake suddenly to a noise far louder than anything I had heard since I had originally awoken. I begin to push myself upwards, forgetting the fact that my leg is beyond harmed. I fall back down with a thud and let out a brief shout once more. I am still trapped but not alone. I hear keys rattling from far outside the nursery where I lay. I call out once more and the rattling fades out very quickly. The silence returns and nearly pushes me back out of consciousness. That is until, I look around and to my surprise the door that i was thrown through had vanished. 

I scramble around, looking back and forth as if it had moved on it’s own. It was now that i noticed that the door hadn’t vanished but the room was completely different than the one i had awoken in the first time around. I sweat nervously and begin to shake. My shakes rapidly begin to intensify to the point where i’m seizuring; without hesitation I cry out once more.

“HELP, SOMEBODY HELP ME PLEASE! I’m begging you.”

My seizures come to a halt and I break down in tears, My pools of tears make the already rotting wood beneath me break even more. The entire floorboards start to shatter. I'm forced to sit amongst the havoc, immobilized. My cries became louder to the point where I don’t care what happens to me all I care is that someone will find me and rescue from my impending doom. If the fall from the floor breaking doesn’t kill me than starvation will. I roll around the floor shrieking for my life when out of nowhere dead silence returns.

I’m much too exhausted to keep up this charade. I must keep my cool and escape whatever hell i had been brought to. I force myself up, trying to ignore the torture of my wounded leg. I can’t help but whimper. The pain is unbearable. With every last ounce of willpower in me, I manage to stand. Just as i thought i was once step closer to freedom, the inevitable happened. The entirety of the floor beneath me collapsed; leaving me falling helplessly unto whatever may lie beneath that starchy, dust-filled room above.

I reached the floor below with a large crash. Whatever parts of be weren’t broken before sure were now. Surprisingly, this time around i managed to keep consciousness all throughout the fall. I try to scream but nothing comes out. I look around once again, as it is the only action i am physically capable to do at that moment and realize that wherever I am now is much, much spookier than before. The walls were much closer and coated with cobwebs.

Right as I gave up once and for all, I hear a faint noise off in the distance. As the noise moves closer i can distinguish that it is in fact the chiming of a bell. The mysterious sound moves closer and faster than ever. Until, without reason it stopped. I tried to call out to whoever or whatever was making this noise. But like before, I could not make any noise.

I tried my hardest to say anything. Not even the faintest of noises left me. All seemed hopeless; and as i struggled more I realized that i had something lodged in my throat. Before I could inspect what it was that blocked my throat, I got an instant aching headache. Within seconds, i fell forward. The back of my head felt as if it were on fire. With my last moments of consciousness, a mysterious, strong man grabbed me and threw me viciously into a burlap sack. As i got hauled off, i could once more make out the faint noise of a bell chiming.


	3. A Distant Noise

Chapter 3: A Distant Noise  
By: Graham Napier

“Graham! Wake up! Don’t scare me like this”, I hear the piercing sound of Nina screaming in my ear.

“Where are we?!”, She continues to worry and panic while I try to catch my breath. 

“Slow down, alright! Refresh me on what exactly happened.”

“I don’t remember, but we’re alone and i’m scared. HELP ME!”; I pause and try to keep sane while working out what has happened here. Although, it is quite hard to do with this drama queen next to me. I begin to worry just as much as her as I start to recollect why we are in here. I start shouting and thrashing about. Nina raises her fists as if she dared me to fight her. We both start losing our mind and tossing each other around this sketchy room.

Nina hits me square in the face. I retreat to the ground in pain. Once I regain a proper state, I am beyond angry. I am furious! Without hesitation, I grab a nearly broken chair, freeing it from a corner laced with webs and broken glass, and sweep it below Nina. She lands surprisingly gracefully; and as she is about to counterattack, a noise brings us back to our senses.

We stopped in our tracks for several moments, as we try to decipher what we hear. A deep voice is spouting gibberish. We listen in a few times but then give up. Nina being the adventurous type she is, had to investigate.

She began to turn the handle of the only door in the room, but it was frozen shut. Nina jumps backwards several feet in awe of how cold the knob was. 

“What a crybaby!”, I scoff, proceeding to prove that it could be much more than an exaggeration. I fiercely grip the latch and much to my surprise… I open it with ease.  
I glance back towards Nina in a state of pride and create several snide looks to over-exasperate that she was, indeed, wrong. I prance out carelessly to continue the investigation of which Nina initiated.

We follow the long corridor where we had first heard the mysterious noise. Suddenly, the noise acts up once more; yet it is still inaudible. We hurry to find the cause of this noise before it escapes once more. As I dash down the hallway, I lose track of Nina. “I finally lost that annoying brat for a little while.”, I thought to myself. Just as I get my hopes up I hear Nina’s unmistakable, blood-curdling screams resonating from a nearby storage room. In an act of heroism I rush to Nina’s aid.

I run by many empty offices to both my left and my right. I continue to follow Nina’s bellowing until, much like the mysterious noise before, her voice fades away. I stop in a halt and throw my arms to my knees in an effort to catch my breath. My head seems to throb from fear. My eyes are unable to close, and instead drop down to stare at the decaying floorboards below. I force myself up once more, just to wander aimlessly throughout the hallways. 

I try my hardest to remain tough but, by every second I begin to grasp onto reality more and more. I shed very few tears, followed almost instantly by anger. I thrashed about, tossing objects near and far. I holler and rampage through the halls in an effort to somehow bring Nina back.

Unfortunately for me I don’t account for the fact that those other than Nina could listen in to my tantrum. I quiet down and move to another area as soon as possible. As i enter the nearest room, I notice none other than Nina draped across the ground. In a clumsy rush, I kneel next to Nina to check her vitals. I lean in close and proceed to listen in for her breathing. I wait a few more seconds until out I cope with the fact that she isn’t breathing.

 

Moments later, I begin to sob. The blend of fear, nervously, and sadness have overpowered me. I flop violently onto Nina causing what I least expected. Nina jerks forward, pushing me off, and breathes heavier than ever before. As she collects herself, she stares in silence at the wall behind me. I glance backwards to see what caused such a reaction and saw none other than large blood-stained letters sprawled across the wall saying:

‘illa nunquam est dimitt vobis’


	4. Curiosity Kills the Cat

Chapter 4: Curiosity Kills the Cat  
By: Liane Raney

I pace up and down each and every hallway searching for some kind of exit. I continue to disappoint myself with each turn leading to a seemingly similar hallway. I seem to be in some kind of loop. I should’ve reached an end of this building long ago. This place is massive, but not this massive. I’m finally relieved to see a door much different than the others. Unlike the others, this doorframe was laced with metal rather than simple wood. I swing the door open impatiently to reveal whatever may be inside. I desperately hope that whatever it may be, it can help me reconnect with Graham and escape. 

As I scan the room, nothing seems much different rather than a large machine propped up against the far corner of the room. The machine bangs and clatters, making noises i should’ve heard from a lot farther away. Even though it seemingly has no use to me, I cock an eyebrow and begin to advance towards it. Escaping can wait; this is much too intriguing. 

As I reach this mysterious object I feel compelled to touch it. Against all logic, I reach my hand closer to this generator-like machine. As my palm gets closer I suddenly feel colder sending painful chills down my spine like needles. My skin finally manages to meet with this odd contraption, I instantly jerk backwards and let out a surprisingly muffled scream. I manage to stay standing while reciting some of my favourite curse words. I am utterly astonished at how hot the machine felt and thought that perhaps my mind was playing tricks on me.

All confusion of whether the object was actually hot or cold was cleared after looking down at my hand. My skin was nearly melted, and was bubbling uncontrollable. My reflexes finally kicked in and I yelped until I realized where I was and used every ounce of strength in my body to hold it in.

As my skin hardens, it becomes a greyish-blue hue. I attempt to flee the room but as I open the door my hand refuses to turn. My dominant hand is now of no use. I swing open the door with my left hand and speed down the hallway in search for something to aid my severely burned flesh.

As I pass several doors, I realize that each door is now wide open. I sweat with nervousness and confusion but manage to stay focused on the task at hand. I mutter to myself thinking about the accidental pun I had just thought of despite what tragic events had just passed. I hear a room with a tap running and without pausing lunge into the door with the strongest of my might causing it to topple.

Contrary to my hearing there was no such tap anywhere in the room. Although with further glance, i notice one of Nina’s elastics in the center of the room. I then begin to notice imprints of Nina pressed against the floor suggesting that she fell, and fell hard. I turn around to leave and search for Nina but stopped once again by surprise. I see blood stained letters reading,

‘numquam tibi volutatis dimitte illis’

I feel sudden deja vu and begin to attempt to translate what appears to be Latin. I roughly translate it to say, ‘Will you ever forgive them?’. I am utterly confused and begin to commemorate to a time where anyone may have wronged me. “Perhaps the message was not meant for me”, I think in denial.

I snap back into reality as I touch my hands together, feeling the burning sensation in my right hand. I attempt to exit the room but do not have the strength to climb over the pile of rubble I had created while entering. I lean against the previously mentioned, blood-drenched wall, and fall through to the other side of what seems to be a hidden room.

As I regain my original stance, I look around the room whilst rubbing my head. The hidden room I have entered is a solid white colour with a single black dot on the wall parallel to the secret entrance. I notice something carved into the circle and look closely to see what it could be. As I strain my eyes by attempting to read black text on a black background I finally make out a single word. Within the black dot I read the name ‘Graham’ and shudder as I realize that I am trapped.


	5. New Friends

Chapter 5: New Friends  
By: Donald Kenzie

“Who are you?”, I stiffen as I stare down these mysterious girls who had appeared out of nowhere.

“I am Tanya, and this is Maddy.” , she says in a kind, reassuring way. I helplessly throw myself into her arms, feeling blessed to encounter others on my solo journey. I had been wandering these halls without a clue whether or not anyone would find me.

I jolt away from her warm embrace and attempt to keep a brave face. I lose all emotion and speak relatively lower to ensure them that I am no wimp. I make sure to remain polite but stern at the same time.

“We need to find a way out of here”, I slur. I ask for suggestions, to which Maddy chimes in.

“I believe we saw two others along this hallway. They were running and managed to exit without a trace. They obviously didn’t hear us shouting, but at least now we know where to find them. One had shorter brown hair and a black hood, while as the other had some sort of black and white sweater and a green streak in her hair.” Maddy instantly stops as if there were more information that she wasn’t sharing. I choose to ignore this.

I instantly identify the people Maddy’s describing as both Graham and Nina. My face lights up as I realize that there is indeed hope once more. I prance along encouraging both Maddy and Tanya to follow and gracefully venture down the direct they had shown me.

The halls didn’t seem as gloomy as before and this situation came as more of an adventure rather than a punishment. Although I made sure never to let my guard down. Bad things could happen, as much as I didn’t want to believe it. I braced myself while trying to stay optimistic at all time.

As I lead the two girls down the hallway I find a room with a more solemn presence than the rest. As I enter, Tanya and Maddy are standing at the doorway waiting. I look back in confusion, swearing that they were behind me when we started. Just then, Nina’s elastic catches my eye. As I scope out the room for any other traces of Nina or Graham, I find a large bloodstain on the wall opposite of the door. I swore for a moment it read something in latin, but then instantly became illegible as if it weren’t for me to see.

I question whether or not the strong chemical smell throughout the building had started to make me hallucinate. I decide once more to stay optimistic and choose to focus on the bright side of this room’s discovery. I had found Nina’s hair elastic which meant that I am one step closer to escaping this place.

I exit briskly, after a thorough inspection of the room. We journey down another hallway looking for any more clues. Maddy walks while looking towards her feet. I finally decide to see what she is moping around about. I am certain that she is keeping something from me but I’m not sure exactly what. As I pipe up about what has been bothering her, she almost immediately responds.

“That girl… the one with the green streak in her hair… I am certain that shortly after we entered with mysterious place she was discussing something with another person. I couldn’t get a good look of the person’s face because of the shadows reaching across them, although I did see them holding a fairly large object, but I know for a fact that the two seemed like friends. After they finished talking, the earthquake happened and I got knocked unconscious.”

Could it be true, was Nina conspiring with the murderer. It does make sense considering she gave away our position shortly after losing the killer during the chase. I finally see the full picture crystal clear and start throbbing with anger. 

“HOW COULD NINA DO THIS TO US!”, I roar. My eyes became blood-shot and my hands feel clammy. I thrash about in an uproar of furiousity. Holes start appearing in walls do to me pounding against them and my skin starts to lace in bruises. My priority instantly changed. Freedom was still what I wanted for my friends and I, but one slight change had been made. Nina was no longer my friend, she wasn’t anyone’s friend. My new goal was to dispatch those who started this and leave their corpses to rot in the place in which they brought us.

My goal was now revenge.


	6. Always One Step Ahead

Chapter 6: Always One Step Ahead  
By: Pascal James

“Hurry up Andy”, I say in pride as I am usually the slow one. 

“One moment, I’m in the middle of a game.”, he howls, not trying to pick up the pace one bit. He is overly focused in whatever new app game he was playing. He was not taking matters seriously, so I have to. I run back towards him and attempt to swipe his phone. As always, his reflexes beat mine and I fail to achieve anything.

I try once more and successfully retrieve it. As I begin to give the infamous mother’s speech (You’ll get this back when you start behaving), he attempted to take matters in his own hands by wrenching it out of my hands. Our hands locked in place over the phone; neither of us would let go. In a quick motion he tries to take back what’s rightfully his but in turn launches it against a wall.

We rush over to see if it is alright. As he kneels down, he begins to whimper. His phone has been shattered and now resembles a pile of green shards of rock. He then changes his attention over to me. He begins to yell hectically and blames all that has happened on me. He then begins to lay blame for things I couldn’t possibly have had control over. For starters, he proclaims that we are lost in this spooky domicile because I wouldn’t hurry up. I suppose there is reason behind his argument, but there is no way that this was solely my fault. 

I begin to rant back until we both started to boil up inside in anger. You could almost hear the sound of steam being let off. Stillness followed, and for a long time too. We stood, eye contact piercing through each other's soul. He gradually came closer to me as if to either punch me, or to kiss me. He towered significantly taller than me, but I stood my ground. I thought to myself, “you may be tall, but you’re scrawny as hell.”

It was at this point that his gaze changed. He was no longer angered, he now looked scared. He could sense that I was going to act on my acrimony. I brace myself to clock him in the nose, but just then he ran. The chase was on. He had an unfair advantage with his speed. Although, what he didn’t know was that my overabundance of anger would also grant me stamina.

We whisked up and down the halls, until he finally runs out of breath. I gain on him and launch him into a nearby wall with an uppercut. He impacted the wall with a ‘thud’ and then fell to his knees. My blood continues to pump, until I see something peculiar. I boost him to stand, as if forgetting what had just happened and encourage him to further investigate what I had just discovered.

When he landed against the surface of the wall. He tore of some planks of wood. You could now, barely, see a secret room beyond the barrier. There doesn’t seem to be an entrance so we both begin to tear away each object that blocks our path. As the rubble disappears, it becomes more clear what lies beneath this wall. This, of course, should clarify things for us, but it actually does quite the opposite.

Beyond the now destroyed passageway, we see a plethora of computers. It is what’s on the screen that is the confusing part. each computer seem to be monitoring a different member of our friend group. As we glance over how everyone’s coming along, I notice the display showing Andy and I. It seems very surreal how I am now watching myself, watching myself. I look around in search for whatever device is recording us, but to no luck.

Andy is fixed on Donald, presumably wondering why he looks so pissed off. We watch him storm down the halls as if in search for someone. He is also speaking to someone, but we can’t make out who. To us, he seems to be speaking to himself but perhaps the person he’s speaking to is behind this camera. Liane seems trapped in some sort of room, and Graham seems to be comforting Nina for whatever reason; she appears to have suffered some sort of fall. We pause and rest our eyes chanting aloud how brilliant our discovery is.

Our celebration comes to an urgent stop. Andy is gleaming at one of the monitors. He looks absolutely horrified. I look over to see what it is that he’s seeing and am caught completely off guard. I begin to vomit at this disturbing sight. We both stare in awe of what is happening.

“Anne!”, we both holler as we rush frantically down the halls, in an act to right what wrong we had just witnessed.


	7. Father Anne, Holy Spirit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just as a forewarning, this has religious symbolism and such. So if you are uncomfortable, I'm incredibly sorry.

Chapter 7: Father, Anne, Holy Spirit  
By: Anne Corinthia

“Ugh”, I mutter as I waken for what is hopefully the last time today. I shoot upwards, but to know extent as I seem tied down. My arms are free and so I begin the feel around the back of my head. I felt a sharp pain and when my fingers brushed across my scalp, I felt blood trickle down my back, turning my previously blonde hair, orange. Along with the blood, I feel a massive bump sprouting out the centre of the back of my head. I draw the conclusion that I had been bludgeoned by something, rather large, and am now waking up from the unconsciousness it caused.

Now that I have some clarity of what has happened, I proceed to further investigate. Unable to sit up, I rotate my head to both the left and the right, searching for more clues. The room is mostly empty, aside from whatever I was tied to, and a large vat of gasoline and a blowtorch in the corner. I start to sweat uncontrollably. Upon shifting around and feeling the shape and texture of the object I deduce that it is wooden. I then notice that the ceiling had a slight reflection giving me a clear understanding. I was tied down to a… large… wooden… cross!

“Ahhhhhhh!”, I shriek in pure horror.

From ahead of me, the door swings open violently, revealing the same mysterious individual from in the alleyway. He was holding several rusted nails in one hand and a sledgehammer in the other. He shuffles over to me in a zombified manner. When he reaches me, he grabs my arm and aligns it with the horizontal end of the cross. He, surprisingly gently, places a cold nail against my palm. He then raises his arm holding the hammer and begins pounding against the nail. My screams are both in horror and pain, and I squirm helplessly in an attempt to somehow break free.

“Stop it please! Why are you... ?!”, I can’t finish my sentence. My screams overpower my words leaving me communicating with grunts.

He sighs and wipes his forehead. I still can not see his face from the light shining in my face but I can tell that he is done with my first hand. He proceeds to the next hand and does the same. I am far too exhausted and am left to simply whimper. The pain is too much too bare and I refuse to die with such stress. I attempt to get comfortable and try to relax during my final minutes. Before I know it, he had already successfully impaled my second hand.

He then nailed my feet together and to the cross without me noticing. I had already lost all feeling in my one leg, and the other hardly felt pain because I was too busy hurting from my hands.

I lay there lifelessly, waiting for it all to end. He slides away from my range of vision but soon returns gripping the gasoline and blowtorch I had previously seen. He set them down next to me and lifted my mutilated corpse upwards. He propped the cross up in the nearest corner, and went back to pick up the gas carelessly, splashing it all around the room. I couldn’t tell if this was on purpose or if he was in drunken state like I had originally suspected.

He comes far to close and begins bombarding me with gasoline. I close my eyes and turn my head in attempt to keep it out of as many orifices as possible, although I do not fight it. At this point, i’m a useless lump of flesh that has lost all hope. All is silent, except for the slashing of the gas hitting my skin and the dripping of it sliding of my hair and onto the concrete floor below.

He tips the canister, showing me that it is empty. It’s almost like some sick way to inform me that it is finally time… time to burn. The psycho then lifts the blow torch and ignites it while laughing. The killer had some sort of device hiding his voice by making it seem unusually high-pitched.

He ignites the burner and pushes the flame closer and closer to my eye. I squirm away as his fingertips inch their way closer to my face. In less than one minute, I will be human toast. The smell of burning flesh will haunt the hallways diminishing whatever hopes my friends have for survival.

Just as the flame is a few inches away from it’s fuel, the door behind the killer swings open. He throws the torch to the ground and flees without hesitation. Both Pascal and Andy come flooding in, shouting my name with looks of concern of their faces.

They wedge the nails out of my hand and gently move me to the floor. For the first moment in what seems like forever I feel comfort. With friends by my side, my hope replenishes. Andy holds me close and tries to cover up what a gruesome event just passed. I brush my hand against his face and sigh. The blood from my crucifixion leaks onto his skin and I softly whisper…

“Thank you…”


	8. A Fiery Escape

Chapter 8: A Fiery Escape  
By: Andy Peters

“Anne?! Stay with us!”, I say in a calming yet frustrated voice.

“Pascal… Go catch that monster and punish him for what he has done.”, my goal slightly changes and I thirst for revenge.

Pascal departs from the scene to catch the maniac who did this to Anne. After him leaving, I realized that it probably would’ve been better if it were me who did the chasing, but I shrug off this thought and focus on the task at hand.

My blood courses through my veins as I am nearly in tears over Anne. “Just hold on”, I encourage her. “We will stop whoever did this to you.” My head is swimming with both intense thoughts of worry and hatred.

Fittingly, the blowtorch used by the lunatic was softly rolling over towards the gas-drenched cross that we freed Anne from. I begin to worry even more for our lives and attempt to scurry out of this room. Everytime I move Anne, she wails, in excruciating pain. I am stuck in a dilemma… Do I risk being caught on fire for Anne’s sake, or exit the room with her mindless of her injuries, unsure of what might happen. The torch rolls closer and closer to the pool of dangerous juice. If only I could reach it in time to stop from having to make such a life or death decision. 

Anne is surprisingly heavy, despite her short height and slender body-type. When she is slumped over me, she leaves me completely immobile. I make the last minute decision and grasp her arms and drag her out of the room. She screams for me to stop but I continue knowing what fate would have for us if I didn’t. 

Seconds after leaving the room, The blowtorch reaches it’s destination. In the large murky puddle, the torch rolls further on it’s side and press down it’s lever. A small spark comes off and lands directly in it’s fuel. The entire room goes up in flames instantly, with a more reddish hue than normal due to the floor being coated with Anne’s blood. 

Sparks fly towards me as I run. I don’t run nearly fast enough as the sparks hit my shirt and light my back on fire. I reach my arm back and hit the fire violently before it spreads all along my body. I do this all with one hand while holding on the Anne in the other. I successfully put out the fire, although i’m left with a large burn mark all along my back. My previously white shirt is now grey with ash, and I feel much less safe than before.

The fire travels beyond the room, to my surprise. I must drag Anne even further than I intended, possibly making her wounds unhealable. I haul Anne’s body into the nearby room. Where I set her down and let out an immense sigh. I am thankful for my quick-thinking after realizing what would’ve happened if we had stayed. After seeing the explosion first-hand I know that, when it came to escaping or resting, there was no chance of our survival at all if I had chosen the latter.

I realize suddenly that he have lost Pascal. The exit him and the killer took off through is now blocked by large flames making him unreachable.

We go along the halls, looking for somewhere safe to bunker down. As we reach a room that seems old and decrepit, Anne begins to cry out again so I decide that the room would suffice. The walls seem more enclosed yet the room is much longer than usual. Additionally, a warm presence engulfs the entire room. The length of the room is incredible, it reaches far beyond the darkness. I choose to inspect the entire room before deciding to stay.I set Anne aside and brace myself for whatever lies ahead.

I ruffle around my pockets to find some sort of light to illuminate my path, I fail to find something and am forced to go searching in pitch black. I run down the length of the room to get it over with and am surprised when I bump into something. I straighten myself up and begin to feel around whatever this is. The shape seems to be similar to some sort of pedestal or stand of sorts. As I brush around more, I feel a book sitting atop this object made of stone. I grab it and run back into the light.

The cover is greyish and seems to be made of leather and laced with cobwebs. The book has a depiction of some sort of upside down cross. I shiver as I open the cover. It seems to be a diary. It dates all across the year 2006. I read a few words and deduce that a little girl has written this. She signs off each entry with Naria. The writing seems sloppy, but I am intrigued. I forget about Anne’s condition and read on.


	9. The Chronicles of Naria

Chapter 9: The Chronicles of Naria  
By: Naria Silam

September 2nd, 2006:  
”-Mom says I should join her for one of her meetings. She always leaves at night to go to them and doesn’t return for days on end. I wonder what these meetings are. I can’t decide whether or not to participate. She has always left them as a secret but now she is inviting me and my sisters.”  
“-I consulted my eldest sister and asked what she thought. She said that she was going and it could be fun. I wasn’t so sure at first, but then she began stating all the times I had trusted her and I ended up having a great time; so, I caved.”  
“My mother rarely even talks about these meeting and I am very much confused. Why are we going now? Will anyone I know be there? Who’s going to stay home and watch after my littlest sister? All these questions will hopefully be answered soon enough”  
Sincerely, Naria

September 21st 2006:  
“-It has been quite some time since my mother brought up her invitation, though tonight we are finally going. She sprung it up in the middle of conversation, but I suppose it is good I will finally get some answers. My sisters seem much more excited than I, which I suppose is a good thing. My mother seems enthusiastic about these kinds of things, so it is good that others feel the same way.”

“-Turns out that my littlest sister can join in the activity as well. It is finally time for us to branch out and meet our mother’s friends. She and my sisters are waiting in the car so I must make this quick. I am super pumped, more than ever before. We rarely go outside with the exceptions of school and the market. Let’s hope the visit lives up to our expectations.”  
Sincerely, Naria

 

September 22nd, 2006:

“ - Yesterday was a blast. My mother’s friends seemed very kind-hearted and fun. We participated in many activities, ranging from a potluck to a large game of soccer. I find myself fairly acquainted to most of those who attended, yet they still seemed like strangers. Nonetheless, they were interesting and I wish it hadn’t ended so soon.  
“ - The guy running the meeting, Victor A. Lee, gave me an interesting cover for my journal. It’s very pretty and had some sort of upside-down ‘T’ etched into it. He is so generous and I look forward to meeting him again; and hopefully that’s soon considering that I heard that the next meeting is sometime next week.”

Sincerely, Naria

September 29th, 2006:

“ - Today I decided to bring my journal to the get-together. I did this in an act to show them that I feel trusted. I wouldn’t even write at school, much less anywhere else. This place is an exception. Today seems much more sombre than the others. Everyone is keeping entirely to themselves and is acting as if no one else is here. I do hope that next time everyone will be in a better mood.”  
“ - I just got home from the 3rd visit, and am oddly depressed. The overall tone swept across the entire place and slightly changed everyone’s actions. Now that I know it’s affecting me, I hope whatever it is stops; especially since, we are going again tomorrow.”

Sincerely, Naria

September 30th, 2006:

“ - My sadness has been lifted into excitement. My mother said that tonight we are going to stay there for the entire night. It will be like a giant sleepover. For once, I seem to be the only one excited. That’s explainable for my sisters considering they haven’t heard about this massive slumber party, but my mom seems strangely spooked. I’ll talk to her about it later; I’d rather not jeopardize my chances of this party.”  
“ - We have arrived and my excitement quickly faded as I entered the door. Everyone seems much quieter and darker than the previous night. They all wore black cloaks of some sorts, even including my mother. They are all praying to someone and I am confused.”  
“ - I asked my mother if I could leave but she stared right through me. She almost seemed hypnotised. The man next to me had heard my plea and denied it immediately. It was then that I tried to open the doors and realized they were locked. Now, i'm stuck cowering in a corner hoping for the best.”  
“ - Victor had found my hiding spot. He dragged me to the main room and threw me against the ground, I looked up and saw a large cross with everyone bowing in front of it spouting some kind of latin language. Everyone had some sort of murky blue liquid next to them, including me. It was nearly midnight. The first bell rang; after each bell people begin to grin more and more and chant louder. As the last bell tolled, everyone drank their liquids and began to fall in unison. I watched my sister’s have the concoction shoved down their throats and die on the spot. I screamed in fear and managed to escape this horror. I am now struggling not to breathe too loud or someone will find me. I’m scared. This is my last entry…”

Sincerely, Nar…

The night of the sacrifice:

“- Join us before it’s too late…”

Sincerely, Victor A. Lee


	10. You Can't Run Forever

Chapter 10: You Can’t Run Forever  
By: Pascal James

“Come back here!!! I will kill you when I catch you.”, I shout as I chase down whoever this mysterious killer may be. He runs far faster than I, although what he did to Anne seemed to make me faster. We knock down bookshelves as we storm down the halls. I don’t look back, although I begin to slow down. All of my yelling really burned through my energy. I suppose I should’ve saved my breath.

We turn left and right to no stop. It seems like we circled the entire building several times. Until I finally corner him. He stares blankly at the wall in front of him, and doesn’t speak a word. I do the same, which seems really intimidating, although I originally intended not to speak just to catch my breath. That chase seriously knocked the wind right out of me. 

The silence begins to eat me alive, so I fire up my amazing conversational skills.

“Who are you, and why would you even think about doing something so cruel.”, I demanded in a both sad, angry, and curious voice. There is no response. I repeat it louder and louder until I hear him scoff. I begin blaring with fury.

“You think this is funny? Who do you think you are?!”, I siren, with steam almost visibly rising from my head. The killer rotates towards me and into the light. I gasp as I see the killer’s true face.

This mysterious murderer had finally been unmasked, by me no less; and to my surprise, he was in fact no he. A girls face stared deep into mine, with looks of condescendence. Her dark tone matched the background making her nearly invisible. She removed her hood to reveal her long, flowing black hair. My heart melts but I manage to stay angry. Her body is so slender i’m surprised we ever once thought she wasn’t female. Her hoodie seemed to create some manly illusion. While I was busy having my jaw dropped, she decided to pipe up.

“Who am I, you ask”, she begins. “I’m Naria, Naria Silam.”   
“I don’t know who you are, or why you’ve done such cruel things, but I demand you to leave me and my friends alone, or i’ll double the amount of pain you’ve inflicted upon us and make you have a taste of your own medicine.”

“I hardly believe that, and I believe you do know why you are being punished. You shouldn’t have seen the things you have. Learn to steer clear of new territory or bad things will happen to you and those you love.”

“I’m afraid that no more punishing will be happening after I am done with you.”

“I do believe that isn’t the case. You see, taking you out was much easier than planned. I simply exposed your group’s weakest links and am now free to sit and watch as you all crumble.”

“What does that even mean. How did you…”, I get rudely interrupted by the sound of stomping outside the door. Naria smiles when hearing these angry thuds traverse down the halls as if she had accomplished something.

“My experiment just walked by and you didn’t even go and investigate, how rude of you.”

“What was that noise? What do you mean your experiment? You’d better start making sense, and now”, I start to become much angrier by the second. She knew she was confusing my and instead of clarification she chose to rub it in my face. 

Her face showed patronization which gradually turned into a look of realization. She briskly moved her hand behind her back and yanked a piece of wood out of the wall behind her. A crack appeared behind her begin to climb slowly up the wall. When meeting the ceiling, the crack continued to move along the ceiling towards me.

“How are you doing this?! This is defying physics!”, I exclaim in astonishment.

The crack expands and the entire ceiling begins to shake. Little bits of wood fall on both me and Naria to which she responds by looking dead ahead at me and saying, “I don’t defy physics… I just bend the rules.”

A large chunk of wood and rock falls, nearly hitting me. I jump backwards and the dust that had been settling on the floor shot upwards obstructing my view of Naria. As it settled once more, Naria was nowhere to be seen. I begin to pant in fear and hold my head in utter confusion of what had just happened. She had vanished into thin air. It would take more than just me to take her down. As i’m pondering and planning ahead, out of the utter silence enveloping me… I hear a slight chime of a bell.


	11. Torn Souls

Chapter 11: Torn Souls  
By: Nina Rome

“Graham, do you know Latin? Can you translate what that scary writing said. Was it a threat?”, I chimed in both curiosity and worry.

“No, as I explained several times. I do not know a single word in latin besides the common curse words, and unfortunately that is not very helpful to us”, Graham replied sounding agitated.

“Where are we even heading, I’m bored. I’m also hungry. You don’t think they have a kitchen hidden somewhere in here, do you?

“Shhh! Let me focus. We are looking for one of two things. Either an exit to leave this hell-hole, or our friends so we can cover more ground and get out together.”, he replies in a desperate attempt to get me to shut up. I feel like piping up and giving him a piece of my mind, but something catches my eye.

From the crack of a door leading to a seemingly normal room, I see a large wooden bookshelf. If looks relatively new so, I go to investigate. I wave over Graham, not making a single noise just in case someone is inside. To this, he rolls his eyes and clomps over as loud as possible, rushes past me and basically knocks down the door.

Within we see what looks to be a library. As soon as I realize this, I primarily look for a latin dictionary. After searching for a while, I find one. I flip through and begin to translate each word individually in hopes of forming a sentence.

After what seems like forever, I roughly translated to blood-dripped wall. I turned to Graham and said softly, “She will never forgive you.”

“Excuse me!”, Graham exclaims, if if i’m accusing him of something.

“That’s what was written on the wall.” , I respond before he attempts to punch me or something.

“What does that mean?”, Graham questioned as if I would know the answer. I shake my head and shrug my shoulders, to which he sighs.There is a long pause while we both try to reconcile and find a memory where this would make sense.

“Anyways, look what I found.” He points to a shelf much newer and significantly smaller than the others. The shelf contains 7 books all, but one, coloured orange. I pick up one of the books. Across the front reads ‘Andy Peters’ in very fancy lettering. The spine of the book seems scorched and the book seems much too hot.

Along with this, I find that all the other books had the name of one of of our friends written on the front. The pages were all blank, but it was the covers that were interesting. Liane’s book was a slightly lighter hue of orange while as Graham’s was darker in hue. Anne’s was coated with dried blood and had a cross scratched in on the back. Donald’s stood out as the only one with a translucent colour.. It was purely white. Pascal’s book was much dustier than the rest as if it were older.

It was my book that was the most interesting. Pages were torn out and scattered all over. I looked like someone tore out my pages as if to send a sign. I just don’t know what it was. I begin to hand all seven books to Graham and insist that he put them in his backpack. Mine had been lost when I got attacked. 

As we finish putting all the books in our backpack, I wonder what it is these books represent exactly. I hope it doesn’t mean too much considering the condition of my book. Although, I suppose we’ll find out sooner or later.


	12. A Harsh Dismemberment

Chapter 12: A Harsh Dismemberment  
By: Graham Napier

My arms feel as if they are about to fall off. The books we put in my bag are really weighing me down. I trudge forward until I break the awful silence between Nina and I.

“You don’t really think that means anything do you”, I mumble, soon regretting my stupid question. I mean, they're just books. It’s not like they could actually correlate to any of us. I realize that I was in denial. Each book was treated differently as if someone was sending a message. 

“I don’t know, and quite frankly I don’t care”, she says in an attitude much different than her usual perky self.

I could tell she was lying. If i knew anything, it’s that she dramatizes far too often to look past this. I could see a look in her eye, she was nervous. Although, she wasn’t nervous for herself. I knew Nina far too well. She may care about herself more than most others but deep inside I know she would sacrifice herself to save anyone of us.

I could see her trying not to bawl as hard as possible. This moment was different, normally she would cry at the drop of a hat. I go close to comfort her. We stop walking. I tell her that everything will be okay. I know it isn’t true, but I won’t admit that. Without thinking, I lean in and we begin to kiss. She holds it for at least five seconds and then slowly breaks away.

“Your lips taste like strawberries”, I say to ease the tension. She doesn’t respond. She continues to stare deeply into my eyes.

“Nina, is everything alright?”, I says hoping it’s not something I had said. She stares lifelessly into my eyes until I see it. Blood begins to drip out of her neck like a scarlet necklace. Her head slowly slides off her shoulders and lands next to her on the floor. I stare past where her head used to be and see Donald standing behind her gripping a scythe. 

“Agh! What have you done?!!”, I cry in pure horror. My eyes rapidly fill to the brim with tears. 

“Should I kill him too…?”, Don says in a soft voice. I have no clue who exactly he’s talking to. Is he talking to me? If so, who is he talking about?! 

“D-D-D-Donald…! What are you talking about.”, I whisper subtlety. 

“Maddy, you’re so full of creative ideas. As you wish…” Donald whispers as he creeps towards me. 

“Who are you talking to? There's no one there!”, I shout as I attempt to walk backwards, bumping into many pieces of furniture on my way. My arms start to bruise. 

Knowing that he wouldn’t respond I quickly turn around and dart off. He quickly catches on and begins a pursuit. He knocks over all obstacles i dodged in a violent manner. He tears through the piles of dust, and books that block our path. As I tread forward, refusing to look back, doors close all around me as if guiding me to my next destination. Doors slam shut in my face as I try to enter rooms, I keep running in pure terror of what will happen if I stop.

I turn right where I see a long stretch of hallway with an open door at the end.I cut the corner too sharp and managed to crack a rib. My energy fades fast and I lose my ability to run. i shuffle forwards as Donald turns the corner prior to picking up speed once seeing me. I try my hardest to push myself towards the door but all seems hopeless. I hear him get closer flailing his weapon frantically in hopes to dice me just as he did Nina. I reach the end of the hall and as I enter the door I feel something. I ignored what this might be and shove the door closed. I feel it again, this cool feeling on my wrist. It feels cold and relaxing yet painful all at the same time.

I look at my hand and watch it as it detaches slowly. He may have been reckless but he managed to do something. My hand peels away from the rest of my arm complete with a reddish slime and veins being torn apart. It looked like a grilled cheese, opening to reveal it’s beautiful melted cheese but instead it was my flesh. I watched from when it was still connected to my arm all the way until it hit the floor with a thud, it continues twitching as if trying to reattach itself but it quickly loses all movement. 

I don’t cry, I don’t scream. I simply reach down towards it pick it up, and throw it into my backpack. I am completely without emotion, I become inhumane of sorts. I look around light-headedly and see nothing but black. Although, what else is there to see in a purely black room, besides a sole white dot.


End file.
